Bandits Against the Underworld
by Amy494walker
Summary: AU in which the team are Superheroes attempting to save the city of Virginia Metropolis from the clutches of The Reaper. Morgan/Reid but mostly a Team Fic. Rated T for sexual content and mild violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Bandits Against the Underworld.  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Not mine, no profit made.  
><strong>Rating:<strong> T  
><strong>PairingCharacters:** Morgan/Reid, mostly a team fic.  
><strong>Summary:<strong> The heroes of the BAU attempt to help the citizens of Virginia Metropolis when their arch enemy 'The Reaper' attacks.  
><strong>Prompt:<strong> The BAU Team as superheros / with special powers  
><strong>AN:** This is the beast that took over my brain. I didn't want to derail the story with too much character history so I've complied a list with a few short paragraphs explaining each heroes origin story here(- amy494walker. livejournal. com/10453. html - remove spaces. ) It may help the story to make more sense. Also, this is definitely the start of a series. I already have a great idea for a Morgan centric story that I'll do next :D

* * *

><p>The large, full moon hung low in the sky, giving comfort to those who wished no harm, and illuminating those who did. The night was a cold one for the residents of Virginia Met. who where sleeping soundly in their beds, comforted by the knowledge that their city was kept safe from evil, from any enemy of peace lurking in the shadows.<p>

The BAU, The Bandits Against the Underground, were always on the lookout for trouble. With their amazing abilities and strong sense of justice, they where the greatest Super Heroes the world had ever seen.

The Reaper hated them.

"Glarin!" He boomed, his almighty voice echoing through the dome structure of his lair. It was one of the most secure facilities on earth, hidden 20 miles underground. The crime lord however was not pleased by this, he loathed being forced to hide beneath the surface like a rat.

Entering the control room, The Reaper's man-slave; a creature created in his lab for servitude, hobbled over to his master looking appropriately afraid.

"Yes .. yes Master?" The beast stuttered.

Keeping his eyes on the view-screen, showing the horizon of the city that should be his, The Reaper asked, "Is the Janus project near completion?"

Looking extremely relieved he wasn't in trouble, Glarin enthused, "Oh yes Master. It is ready for deployment."

Finally turning to look at the slave, The Reaper was stunned, "So soon?"

Glarin nodded, "Yes Master, the scientists worked diligently indeed."

The Reaper smiled in delight, "Well, I may just let them live after all."

Flipping his black and read cape behind his shoulder, the villain moved closer to the control console and addressed the many technicians.

"Commence phase one." He boomed. Excitement bubbling, he loved when a plan came together.

The Reaper and his servant watched as the computers showed the weapon powering up.

"Look at that Glarin. Soon enough this city will be so overrun with crime and violence that the BAU won't know what hit them. And as soon as their lair is vulnerable, it will be ours."

Ignoring the look of awed devotion in his creations eyes, The Reaper pictured himself ruling the city, holding those troublesome heroes in his possession, and could no longer hide his glee. He laughed out loud, long and loud. Echoing into the halls.

* * *

><p>"Mmmm."<p>

Shivering at the feel of Derek's hand trailing up his side, Spencer arched his body into the touch and deepened their kiss. There was little in this world he enjoyed more than making out with his beautiful lover in the morning. He loved how slow, languid and amazingly hot it was. There was no rush, just pleasure.

When Derek pressed his erection against Spencer's own, the genius reached down and gripped the firm ass in his hands, pulling the other man as close as he could.

"Oh, Derek." Spencer moaned, kissing, licking and nibbling on Derek's shoulder. He listened with contentment as his lover panted, moaned and whispered into his ear.

"Spence, so good."

They both jumped apart when the alarm suddenly sounded.

Looking up at the display on the bedroom wall, they saw that they were being called for a code-red. That wasn't something either could even contemplating ignoring.

"Oh no." Spencer mumbled, jumping up to dress. The sheer idea of the catastrophes that could have triggered such an alert was enough to rid Spencer of his arousal and he was sure the same was true for his partner. When they where dressed they headed for the door but Derek grabbed Spencer's wrist to halt him.

"I love you." He said and kissed him sweetly. Spencer returned both the kiss and the words with a smile before heading to the meeting room.

When they arrived they found the rest of the team already sat at the round table facing the large screen.

"Spencer, Derek. We have a serious problem." Aaron Hotchner, or The Chief as he was known to the rest of the world, was sombre indeed. Not that it was easy to tell the difference sometimes.

Also sat at the table was Emily Prentiss/Mystic, Jennifer Jareau or JJ/Wolfheart, David Rossi/The Persuader and The Almighty Oracle, one Penelope Garcia.

Spencer, or Rapid, sat at his usual seat while his lover, Inferno, sat across from him.

"Last night, before I went to bed, the city looked like this," Garcia said, flicking a hand up to the screen, bringing up a video of a peaceful happy community. Just as they liked it.

"And when I got up this morning, I found Kevin freaking out about this."

As another video came up, the group where stunned. No longer was there peace but the city looked as though it had been the ground of a war. Smoke was billowing up from various buildings and alarms blared in the background.

"Who did this?" Derek asked, upset that their enemies where constantly trying to destroy his home.

"That's the thing, it was the citizens." Garcia sounded almost as though she was in shock, "They're all acting like crazy people, picking fights for no reason, looting, vandalism. It's _all_ of them."

Prentiss shook her head, "How did this happen, this can't be them." she said, holding on to her faith. She knew there were bad people in this city, but they were mostly good.

"Well, I checked the logs and, sensors did detect an energy surge over the city just after midnight." Garcia said, sitting down.

Morgan frowned, "What kind of energy surge?"

Garcia, motioned again to turn the upsetting video off, before answering, "Electromagnetic as far as I can tell, the frequency was unlike anything I've seen before. But, it could possibly be used to to alter thought patterns in the human brain. I'm guessing it increased aggression levels too high for them to handle."

"Why weren't we affected?" Hotch asked, frowning.

"Well, our brain chemistry is a little different than that of ordinary people."

Flipping through the pages of technical data that Garcia provided with superhuman speed, Reid said, "I looks as though the origin point of this surge came from ... " He paused there. He didn't want to be the one to say his name. He looked up to see Garcia nodding sympathetically before they all turned their eyes to Hotch.

"The Reaper." The Chief answered bluntly. The Reaper, the same man who had made it his mission to destroy their noble leader, the man who had killed the love of Hotch's life, Haley. The whole team shared in his grief, Haley had been a frequent visitor to their layer - Hotch being the only one who had lived off base - and had been as much a part of the family as anyone. Though concern for her husbands safety took a toll sometimes, she handled the burden of being married to a Super Hero with more strength and dignity than should be looked down on. They each felt the burn of guilt at not being able to reach her in time, it made them doubt their abilities, their purpose.

Silence reigned over the room for a few moments before Hotch stood. "Okay," He started, in full business mode, "Oracle, I want to and Kevin to keep trying to find the true purpose of that energy surge, find out exactly what it's done and how we can reverse it. Inferno, you go with Rapid, Mystic and Wolfheart to the city, I know it's unlikely that even we would be able to do anything against such overwhelming numbers but just, help the police force as much as you can okay?" After receiving a round of 'Yes Chief's" he turned to The Persuader, "I think we're gonna need to visit an old friend if we want to find The Reaper."

"I'm game." He replied.

They all stood up and paused a second. They where all looking to Hotch, each of them wanted to say something along the lines of 'We'll catch this guy' but they knew they couldn't make that promise. They had been hunting this monster for 5 years and they where no closer.

Hotch lowered his eyes for a second, perhaps overwhelmed by the weight of the groups stares, before raising them again. He smiled as sincere a smile as he could manage these days and nodded. They took that as their cue to go change and head off to their assignments.

* * *

><p>"Back off!" Derek yelled, once again shoving back the guy who was trying to tackle him to the ground. The street around them was a mess, littered with burnt out cars - many still on fire - broken glass and most disconcertingly, blood.<p>

The guy, almost rabid looking in his anger, ignored his warning and instead growled, lunging again. Having just about enough of this, the masked hero raised his hand and, with trained precision, used his power to create a ring of fire around the altered man. He kept a keen eye on him, he wanted to make sure that if the man decided to brave the flames he could lower them. He was trying to scare the otherwise innocent citizen into stilling, not kill him.

It seemed to work and when he finally lowered the flames, the man, with wide eyes, ran in the opposite direction. Probably regretting, even in his altered state, trying to take on a member of the BAU.

Derek looked down at himself and frowned. The man had somehow managed to get grease all over his green and black costume and he dreaded to think what was on his cape.

_'Oh Garcia's gonna kill me.'_ He thought with dismay, he knew that grease was particularly difficult to get out of leather and he would have no choice but to ask Garcia to work her non-super-power magic on it. He anticipated a neck rub in her future.

When a sudden gust of wind caused his green cape to flutter, he knew before he saw that his lover had arrived. His purple costume and cape where in equally as poor condition. Unlike Derek's mask, that covered the top of his head down to his ears and nose, Rapid, along with all the others, wore a simple eye mask, with straps worked under his long wavy hair.

"What have you got?" He asked, seeing from the way Spencer was holding himself that the answer was not a good one.

"It's everywhere, and it is_ literally_ everyone. They've been changed. They're not just more aggressive, they're coherent and sound of mind. They've just gone insane!"

Inferno knew that for Spencer to use that word in anger meant that the situation was dire indeed. The man's mother had, had her mind stolen by Kopper when he was young. It was the reason he had chosen to use his powers for good, and had, with the help of the BAU, defeated Kopper long ago. His mother was beyond repair though and was residing safe, under the protection of the whole BAU and the influence of mayor himself in a care home.

Spencer spread his arms and then lowered them, completely at a loss.

"I know, I'll check in on Mystic and Wolfheart." Derek said, then closed his eyes. When they were in 'battle' as Hotch called it, Wolfheart would keep her mind open, her psychic influence spread across the whole city so that, if any of them wanted to contact her, all the had to do was think really hard.

_"Wolfheart, are you having any luck?"_ He asked.

Not long after came the response, _"Not really, this is all a mess, me and Mystic are doing all we can but, this seems like closing the barn door after the horse has already escaped. Shouldn't we be helping The Chief find The Reaper?"_

He understood the sentiment because he had been thinking the same thing, but they couldn't just leave the citizens of Virginia Met. alone, defenseless. They still didn't know what The Reapers plans where, as far as they know, he wanted them distracted so he could pick them off one by one. If by being here they could save just one life, they had to try.

Looking back at his lover as he was opening his eyes, having had joined in on the conversation, he felt vindicated to see him shake his head. Rapid agreed they couldn't leave.

_"I know it seems pointless, but we can't leave. The Reaper could be coming for them any second, or they could kill each other. I know you want to help The Chief, we all do, but. We have our orders and we have a duty to this city."_

Strangely enough, Derek actually heard JJ's sigh in his mind before she answered, _"Yeah, I know. It's just frustrating!"_

_"I know JJ but it's for the best."_ Reid chimed in, before indicating to Morgan to turn around, when he did he saw a gang running towards them with weapons, _"Good luck out there. You and Mystic be careful okay?"_

_"You too."_

* * *

><p>Hotch turned his nose up as he entered the small bar. One day he'd have to ask Reid if he knew why rats always chose to live in disgusting hovels like this. Of course this wasn't an animal they where hunting, no. This person was very much human, or as human as you want to consider those with powers.<p>

When Rossi nodded his head towards the back, letting Hotch know that he had heard something, the two moved towards the room and slipped in unnoticed by the man sitting at his desk doing paper work.

"Hi, Ethan." Hotch said in a low, hushed tone.

Ethan jumped almost out of his chair at the sound of Aaron's voice, when he saw him his eyes widened with fear and he rose to stand,

"Oh god, Chief I erm .. What are you doing here?" Aaron had to suppress a smirk at the snitches nervousness. The last time he had tried pressing him for info, the man had lied and almost got Hotch killed by sending him into a trap set up by The Reaper. He had, after the fact, decided that Ethan must have been blackmailed, maybe even threatened into doing so and didn't really blame him.

But there was no reason he needed to know that.

"Take a seat." Aaron said with a small smile.

But Ethan was too edgy to do anything but talk, "Please, I didn't have a choice. He, he would have killed me."

Glowering as best he could beneath his mask, Aaron said, "I said," and without lifting his arm, he flicked his wrist and sent the man flying back into the chair with a thunk, "Take a seat." before crossing his arms over his chest, covering the large 'C' printed onto his black, padded leather costume.

Taking pity on the man, who had been reduced to shrinking back as far as he could into the chair and seemingly struggling to hold back tears, Dave stepped forward with his arms stretched wide, causing his silver cape to billow back over his shoulders.

"Calm down Ethan. We're not here for revenge, that's not how we do things. We just want info on The Reaper."

"Oh yeah, do you speak for him too." Ethan asked, gesturing to a still heavily glowering Hotch.

Giving Hotch a mildly reproving look, Rossi turned back to the scared man, "Yeah. Please. The whole city is in anarchy. There has to be something you know."

Shaking his head so hard his long hair whipped in a halo around him, Ethan said, "I swear man, I don't know anything."

Rossi sighed, glanced back at Aaron who was keeping a vigil by the door, before saying, "Listen, we know you go by his layer every now and then, got to keep up to date on all the major players if you're gonna make a living as a snitch. So you sneak in, easy enough for someone who can phase through solid walls. That means you know where his new base is." Clapping a hand on his shoulder, Rossi pleaded, "You are the best bet we have for finding him. Just tell us where he's hiding out now."

"You're wrong, I don't know." Ethan said.

"Really?" Asked Aaron in a dangerous tone, suddenly walking briskly forward.

Ethan in response scrambled to get as far away as he could, "Hey, you stay the hell away from me."

Continuing on, Aaron didn't stop until he was leaned over with his face merely inches from Ethan's, his lips next to the other man's ear. He loomed for a second, for maximum effect, before whispering deeply, "Do not make us force you to tell us."

As the other man shivered in fear, Aaron stood back up, towering over him. He meant what he said, they would force him to tell them the new whereabouts of The Reaper. Of course he would do that by having Rossi compel him to.

Again, there was no reason Ethan needed to know that. Aaron knew from personal experience that fear was a powerful motivational tool.

Looking like he was about to start crying, Ethan said, "He'll kill me."

"He'll never know it was you. I promise." Rossi said in a soothing tone.

The snitch rubbed a hand over his face and back through his hair, "I do this," He looked up at Hotch, "And we're even right?" Aaron titled his head in acquiescence and Ethan sniffed and said, "I need a map."

* * *

><p>As the four men who had been trying to beat each other to death fell to the ground, unconscious from a psychic blast over-loading their senses, JJ sighed. This was beyond anything they could handle. Every single street corner contained some kind of chaos perpetrated by the normally peace-loving citizens of their city.<p>

"Hey," JJ heard as Emily shimmered back into sight before her, "How are you doing?"

In response, JJ could only breath out heavily and shake her head.

"You too?" Emily said knowingly, "This is so wrong. I feel like we're turning against the people we're supposed to protect. Using our powers on them you know?"

"I do, but," JJ looked a little upset as she said, "They're the ones turning against each other."

Emily was about to say something when they heard what sounded like a small explosion from a few blocks away followed by shouting. Turning to JJ and sighing. Emily placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder before shimmering out of sight and heading in the direction of the trouble.

Just as JJ was about to follow she was halted when she felt a presence in her mind. Opening herself to it, she heard Hotch's voice.

_"Wolfheart, we have the location. Can you let The Oracle know that he's hiding out beneath Shadow Mountain, see if she can hack the system and hurry up the search for a reversal?."_

_"Sure, no problem. What are you going to do?"_ She asked, concerned that given the villain in question, Hotch was thinking of rushing in there.

_"I'm going to finish him, once and for all." _Hotch said, confirming her fears.

_"Chief, you can't. You're gonna get yourself killed."_ She knew it was useless pleading with him to think about this clearly, really, who could be asked to think rationally in these situations.

Hotch paused a moment before responding with a smile in his voice,_ "You worry too much Wolfheart. I'll be fine. I've send The Persuader down there to help you guys."_

_"You're going alone? No Chief, you can't do this please."_ JJ was desperate. Hotch was one of her dearest friends, he had been the one to assure her that despite the pain she had received in the past due to her abilities, they where something to celebrate, not hide. She couldn't loose him.

_"Wolfheart, you are where you need to be, doing what you do best. I need to do what I need to do. No matter what happens. Remember that you, are truly a hero."_

JJ felt him leave her mind before she could respond. She felt a burning coil in her chest. How could she just continue being mostly ineffectual here while a great man was walking to his death. Quickly coming up with a plan, JJ reached out to Reid.

_"Rapid, can you hear me? I need you."_ JJ pleaded. She was waiting for an answer but instead got a strong breeze and suddenly Rapid was stood before her looking concerned.

"Wolfheart, are you okay?"

"I am but The Chief isn't. He's going after The Reaper on his own." She said, righting her hair and golden cape again after Rapids arrival had blown them around.

"What, why?" Reid asked, distressed.

Shrugging her shoulders, JJ answered, "Why do you think?"

Lowering his head and nodding, Reid asked, "Of course. What do we do?"

"Can you get us there, both of us?" JJ asked.

Reid winced slightly, "Well, I can. But it wont be pleasant for you."

"I don't care." She said with conviction. Hotch was all that mattered now.

Nodding and moving his cape back, he had a habit of covering himself with it, uncomfortable with being so exposed, Reid moved close and said, "All right, I'll have to carry you. Where is he?"

JJ wrapped her arms around Reid's neck and allowed him to lift her legs to cradle her in his arms, "Beneath Shadow Mountain. I'll let Mystic and Inferno know." she said, wriggling in an attempt to get comfortable.

"Okay. And ... JJ?" He said, sounding nervous. When she turned her face to his, he said, "For the love of god, hold on."

tbc.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

* * *

><p>"KEVIN! CAN YOU GET ME SOME COFFEE SWEETY PIE?" Penelope Garcia yelled from the control room. The sound of upbeat music the name of which she couldn't remember drowning out everything else. She had received JJ's message a few minutes ago and was now diligently scanning the area around the mountain for any energy drains that would lead to an underground facility. Once she had the location she could ping the IP address and that system would soon be her bitch.<p>

Garcia tried not to think about the nagging feeling she had that JJ had been hiding something from her, she sounded upset. But she didn't have the luxury of worrying about that right now, her mind was busy running 20 different program's trying to find this monsters damn system. He had tormented her family too much to be allowed anything less than her absolute attention.

Garcia was startled by a hand on her shoulder and turned to the person behind her.

"KEVIN, YOU SCA ... Oh god."

* * *

><p>When Rossi entered the alley next to a burning theater, he barely dodged out of the way of a group of people, maybe even a few kids, running past him screaming. Smiling slightly, he looked into the alley and was unsurprised to see Emily shimmer in before him.<p>

"It's amazing how freaked out people get by invisible forces." He said, smirking.

"Yeah, thank god," Emily chuckled, placing her gloved hands on her hips, the red leather beneath it was covered in dirt and soot even up to the high neck and onto her face. Her red cape, had a small tear in the back. This day was proving extremely hard for all of them. Noticing Rossi's gaze, she looked down and made a half hearted attempt to brush the marks off, before giving up. "Have you heard anything about The Chief?" She asked, a strange tension in her voice.

Shaking his head, Rossi answered, "No, last I heard he was heading back to the base to fill in The Oracle about the location of The Reaper."

Rossi had a bad feeling as he watched Emily's face fall, "You don't know? He went after The Reaper on his own."

"Oh," Rossi growled, "I should have seen that coming."

"Don't worry," she said, raising her hands, "Wolfheart and Rapid have gone after him. She'll let us know if she needs us."

Sighing, Rossi knew that she was right but this whole thing was just so messed up. The town was tearing itself apart because of some unidentified force and their leader was heading off into a suicide mission. Could anything else possible go wrong today.

Rossi really should have expected the high pitched scream coming from across the street. Squaring his shoulders and bracing himself, he looked back to see that Emily had already shimmered away.

"Show time." He muttered before sprinting into the chaos.

* * *

><p>Leaves where blown off bushes and debris thrown up from the ground as Spencer stopped at the base of the mountain. Carefully putting JJ on the ground he kept a tight grip on her, glad he did so as her legs immediately gave out under her.<p>

"You okay?" He asked, cringing. He had seen this reaction on enough victims faces to know that traveling at his speeds without his ability was incredibly unpleasant.

After a moment of breathing deeply, JJ murmured, "I'm gonna be sick." bent over and proceeded to do just that.

Spencer kept a hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles and using his free hand to hold back her curly hair.

It only took her, admirably enough, a minute or so to recover before she was ready to go again.

"He must already be inside," She said, sounding queasy but determined, "How do we get in?"

Thinking, Reid said, "Well, I could check but, I chose this spot because it's the hardest to set up surveillance; too much foliage, I'm worried that he'd have sensors that could detect me if I make a pass." The Reaper _did_ know about Spencer's ability, all of their abilities actually. He considered it a source of pride that he could be such a powerful enemy against them even without abilities of his own.

Biting her lip, JJ said, "I'll ask The Oracle." and, closing her eyes, she sought out the techs mind with her own.

_"Oracle, can you hear me? Do you know of a way in to The Reapers base, we're here right now and we need to make a quiet entry'_

When JJ received nothing but silence on the other end, she was immediately concerned. "She's not answering."

Sighing, Reid said, "Yeah, I was afraid of that. The Reaper must have set up some kind of dampening field around the area. I'm just going to have to risk looking myself."

Nodding, JJ said, "Hurry, I don't know how long we have."

* * *

><p>Growling internally, Hotch cursed The Reaper. This damn place was like a maze, a maze made all the more difficult to navigate due to the surveillance and guards.<p>

But Hotch wasn't going to be deterred, even if it meant taking out every sentry in his way.

He was about to turn the next corner dispatch with the guard but he heard something behind him. Turning and raising his hand, ready to fend off any attack, he was surprised to see Reid and JJ.

"Rapid, Wolfheart? What the hell are you doing here?" He hissed, trying not to alert the guard to their presence.

Rolling her eyes, JJ asked in an equally as hushed tone of voice, "You didn't really think I was going to leave you here to die alone did you?"

"The city needs you more than I do." He said, knowing he was fighting a losing battle.

"The city has Inferno, Mystic and The Persuader. They're in capable hands. You on the other hand are apparently eager for death." She answered back, not backing down.

Sighing, about ready to give up if it meant reaching his target, Hotch took one more shot, "I gave you an order."

This time it was Reid's turn to roll his eyes, "When has that ever stopped us?" his smile removing any doubt over the fact that he was teasing his leader.

Shaking his head in exasperation, Hotch relented, "There's a guard down there I was about to take .. " He was interrupted by a blast of air and a second later the thump of a body hitting the floor. Reid peeked his face around the corner, smiling humbly, "All clear."

Trying hard not to smile back, Aaron instead muttered, "Let's go." and walked off.

It wasn't long before they found the control room. They paused outside, standing over the unconscious bodies of the several guards. Each was thinking the same thing, this was the closest they had come to The Reaper in years. JJ and Reid looked at Hotch in unison, more concerned about his mental stability that their own safety.

JJ reached out a hand and touched Hotch's arm gently. He looked down to the hand and they up to JJ's face. What she saw almost took her breath away. He looked so broken, as though he just realized that he was about to fight the battle of his life. The man on the other side of this door had taken his life, metaphorically if not literally, and he had to be concerned about what would become of him after this.

Defeating The Reaper had been his only motivation since Haley had been lost. JJ felt that he no longer knew who to be outside of that. And it scared him.

Then, as soon as she had seen it, the pain and fear was gone, replaced by the grim determination he had held for so long.

He took a deep breath, gave her a reassuring nod, turning to give Reid the same, before raising his hand.

The door flew open with a crash and the masked heroes stepping into the room.

It was empty.

"No." Aaron said, confused, "He's here, he HAS TO BE!"

Both JJ and Reid jumped a little when their chief yelled but they where startled by a noise behind them.

Without waiting to see who it was, Hotch used his power to slam the person into the wall opposite the door.

All three instantly recognized him. He was a loyal servant of The Reaper.

"Where is he." Hotch growled.

JJ looked to Reid as Hotch stalked dangerously toward the restrained man, she felt they should stop him but Reid gave a minute shake of his head, stilling her.

"I'll never tell you." The servant said proudly.

Hotch clenched his outstretched hand and the man, Glarin JJ remembered, grunted in pain. JJ winced but made no move to stop The Chief, yet. She couldn't just stand by and let a man, no matter how rotten, be tortured. But she trusted Hotch not to go to far. Or at least she trusted Reid's judgement.

Talking slowly, Aaron asked again, "Tell me where that rat is hiding."

At that, Glarin laughed a gleeful laugh, "You call him a rat, when it is you who are lured away from your hole so easily, get the whiff of that cheese and you can't resist."

JJ saw Reid move forward, head tilted, and asked "Why would The Reaper want to lure us from our Lair?" though he sounded as though he knew the answer.

In response Glarin just laughed some more. Realizing they weren't going to get any more out of him and secretly wanting to remove the temptation for Hotch to use unseemly tactics to try anyway, JJ sent a blast of Psychic energy to him and rendered him unconscious.

Hotch turned and glared at her for a moment before turning to a pale Reid and asked, "What?"

Still looking horrified, Reid answered, "The lair! He lured us out with the effects of the surge so he could take it."

JJ covered her mouth with her hand before reaching up to clench her fists in her hair, "Oh my god, Garcia. Kevin. I couldn't get a response when I tried to reach her."

Hotch looked to Reid and simply said, "Rapid." and it was enough as the next second, Reid was gone.

"Wolfheart, contact the team, tell them to get back to the base as soon as possible. We cannot lose the base to The Reaper." Hotch ordered, and JJ immediately closed her eyes and reached out to them. "He'll have the whole city at his fingertips." she heard him he mutter.

JJ couldn't help but think that this was a massive failure on their part already.

_'We should have seen this. Now Garcia may very well have to pay the price for our ineptitude.'_

* * *

><p>Kevin looked to Garcia again but she still didn't have any reassuring words to say. Kevin often felt vulnerable in situations like this, his ability being to go weeks on end without sleep, not much use in a fight.<p>

Instead she smiled weakly at him and returned to her previous activity of watching The Reaper walk around, making himself familiar with their home.

Garcia was angry of course, but mostly she was just afraid. There was a reason she was the one who stayed behind while the rest went out to fight crime. When it came to confrontation, her power, like Kevin's, was about as useful as a calculator in a French exam.

"Oh I like it here. It's so …. homey." The Reaper smarmed, directing a smirk towards Garcia causing her to cringe. The idea of this beast so much as laying eyes on her awesomeness was enough to send chills down her spine. Though she knew it was probably unwise, she couldn't keep the glare out of her eyes.

"Oh come on. Don't be like that. I might let you live," God he was so smug.

"Oh yeah," She asked, willing her voice not to quiver, "Why's that?"

"I got word you hacked my system. Not many people on the earth that could have done that." He smiled and moved to sit in front of her on a backwards chair, "Pledge you allegiance to me, and I'll reward you with riches beyond your wildest dreams."

"I'd rather die a slow death by spider bite, thank you." She answered immediately.

"Ooh, your sassy." He said, propping an elbow on the back rest and resting his chin on his hand. The smile he was wearing fell suddenly and he sneered, "I hate sass."

Garcia, wasn't sure what happened next, it was all so fast but, one minute she had seen The Reaper lunge for her, the next he was sprawled on the floor on the other side of the room and Reid, sweet, beautiful, perfect-timing-Reid, was stood before her with a large metal pole.

"Don't think for a second you get to touch her." He sneered in a voice so unlike his usual one.

As the minions surrounding the room made to move forward, Reid zipped away and in no more than 3 seconds, they where all laying on the ground, groaning in pain and Reid retook his position guarding Garcia.

"Well, well. If it isn't Speedy Gonzales." The Reaper drawled while standing. He busied himself for a moment with righting himself, throwing his cape back over his shoulder, before his clasped his hands behind his back.

"You know the great thing about a metabolism as fast as yours speedster?" Suddenly he drew a gun from behind his back and shot a dart into Reid's neck before even he had a chance to react, "You succumb to tranquillizers so much faster than normal people."

Much to Garcia's horror, her friend immediately dropped to the floor, completely out.

Swallowing, Garcia realized that she was about to die. She looked to Kevin, who looked just a terrified, and then back to The Reaper who was smiling at her again, only this time, it was a predatory smile. He ran forward and grabbed her by the throat, pinning her to the table. Through the stars that now blurred her vision, Garcia thought she saw Kevin try to remove The Reaper from her only to be thrown back with a smack to the face.

Just as she felt the world begin to blacken, She heard the reaper scream and suddenly the pressure around her throat was gone. As the air came rushing back to her lungs, the stars finally closed in and the last thing she knew, she was falling to the ground.

* * *

><p>Hotch thought he should be concerned that JJ seemed to be throwing more at The Reaper than he had ever seen, but he couldn't contain the stark satisfaction at seeing him roll around on the floor clutching his head in agony.<p>

It was over all too soon however as JJ released her hold on the man trying to kill her friend and slumped, exhausted.

While The Reaper was gasping on the ground, Aaron asked quietly, "Rapid? Oracle? Are they alive?"

JJ clenched her fists and mustered up the strength to touch their minds. When Aaron saw her smile slightly he knew that she had detected them there. They where alive.

Turning his attention back to The Reaper, Aaron saw him recovering quickly. He immediately raised his hand and threw him back against a wall, pinning him there.

Hotch heard some of the henchmen on the ground begin to stir and rise but before he could react one of them had jumped up and hit an already weakened JJ on the back of the head, sending her to the floor, hard.

More where beginning to rise when suddenly two where sent flying back to the ground by a completely different invisible force than he could muster.

As Prentiss took care of the few to the right, he noticed the air ripple around the ones to his left and looked back to see Derek Morgan standing with his hand outstretched. Hotch had rarely seen the man use the tactic he was now, heating and compressing the air enough to remove the oxygen, but he was pleased to see it have the desired result as the minions collapsed back to the floor.

If he where a better man he'd hope they didn't have brain damage. But he didn't think he was.

"Chief, Rapid?" Derek asked frantically, having seen his lover still on the ground.

"He's alive. Oracle too. Where's The Persuader?" Hotch answered, eyes fixed on his trapped prey.

"He stayed behind, he didn't want to leave the city in the state it's in. I see your taking care of our pest problem." Prentiss said as she shimmered back to vision.

Aaron tried not to be disconcerted when The Reaper chuckled, "What the hell are you laughing at?" He snarled.

"Well, it could be pride over how easily you fell for my trap. Good, isn't it? I call it the Janus Device." The man said smuggly.

"Janus, Roman two-faced god. Clever." Aaron said flatly.

"I thought so." He said before smiling again, "Of course, my happiness could be down to that." He said, pointing to the console. What he saw made his heart sink. The BAU Headquarters had a self destruct mechanism, it would cause the building to implode in order to keep the information within out of enemy hands.

It had been activated. _1:20, 1:19, 1:18._

"As far as I know it requires two people to disarm it, a hand scan while entering a password. Two handed job. Kind of hard for you to keep me pinned here and disable the self destruct."

Damn it. The sequence actually required two _senior _members of the team. Derek had been added to that list last month which meant that Prentiss was the one left guarding their prisoner.

Looking at her, she nodded and shimmered out, making it hard for The Reaper to take her out but easy for her to stop him if he tried to escape.

Confident in Prentiss' abilities, Hotch released The Reaper and said, "You move, and she will end you."

He and Derek moved over to the console and pressed their palms simultaneously into the pad. They had to keep their hands their as it scanned for a pulse, and key in their code. They where halfway through the 32 digit code when Hotch saw out of the corner of his eye. The Reaper grabbed a handful of powder out of his pocket and blew it in an arc across the room.

When the powder came into contact with Prentiss, it stuck to her skin and The Reaper used that to strike. He punched her hard in the face and ran. Hotch felt every cell in his body itch to chase him but they had 32 seconds left, not enough time to restart the disablement procedure.

Hearing Prentiss groan and mumble that she was okay but couldn't get up yet, Hotch keyed in the remainder of the code in tangent with Morgan.

The second the screen flashed 'Self Destruct Disengaged' Morgan and Hotch where gone, running out the door in a feeble attempt to find The Reaper.

After searching for a few minutes, Hotch was about to head down to the fifth floor when Morgan placed a hand on his shoulder.

"He's gone man. You know he is."

Hotch frowned, clenched his jaw and punched the wall. "DAMMIT!"

* * *

><p><em>"Thank god you found the reversal frequency when you did. The citizens had split into two different factions and where heading toward civil war. I cannot thank you enough BAU."<em>

Unfortunately, there wasn't a single person sitting in the briefing room who felt they deserved such praise. The town had suffered millions of dollars of damage, 32 people had been killed and hundreds more injured and The Reaper had gotten away again. To them this felt like a substantial loss.

None the less, Aaron leaned to speak into the speakerphone, "We're always here to help, you know that Mayor Paul."

_"I do, and I'm beyond grateful. Well, I have to go, lot's to do as you might imagine. Take care."_

"Good bye." Aaron answered, hanging up and sitting down tiredly.

The silence in the room was thick and uncomfortable. JJ and Prentiss had matching ice packs pressed to their head and jaw respectively, Garcia was absently rubbing her bruised throat while Reid was still sunken eyed from the after effects of the drug. They couldn't possibly feel any less like heroes right now if they tried.

"I need coffee." Reid muttered while rising to walk over to the small snacks table he had insisted they get when he had come to the facility. He had requested it before a bothered with securing a personal room.

Snorting, Garcia said, her voice croaky, "You always need coffee." causing a hushed giggle to sound around the table.

"I do not." Reid said indignantly.

Laughing, Prentiss said, "Oh please. I'm like 60% sure that you don't actually have a superhuman power, you just consume enough caffeine for it to look like you've surpassed human speed."

"Don't forget the sugar." Derek said, amused.

Smiling, JJ groaned, "Oh god. How could we? He costs us more in sugar than we spend on power."

The team, even Hotch, outright laughed at that while even Reid smiled slightly.

"Well," Garcia said with renewed enthusiasm, "I have a movie collection just dying to be watched if anyone's interested in forgetting this god forsaken day?"

"You read my mind." Rossi said, slapping his hands on his knee's before ordering, "Come on people."

Everyone stood, unwilling to ignore such an order.

As Reid finished pouring out his coffee while the others piled out of the room, he felt arms encircle him and practically melted back into the warm body.

"Mmmm." He hummed.

"I just needed to feel you." Derek murmured against into Reid's hair.

"Don't have to explain." Reid said as he ran his hands over Derek's interlocked ones.

The two stayed like that for a long moment before Garcia yelled at them to get their butts in the viewing room.

Giggling, Reid turned in Derek's arms and pressed his lips to his lovers in a warm gesture of affection.

They may have lost, but they would make it to another day.

They would be fine.

For now.

_End._


End file.
